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Coming Out Hot! Broiled Parmesan Tilapia

On my quest to eat better, I’m trying to get fish into my diet three or four times a month. I know, I know, it should be more than that, but a girl’s gotta start somewhere. I LOVE spicy tuna sushi rolls, grilled ahi tuna, halibut and tilapia. For some reason I always seem to butcher halibut, it falls apart on the grill and my $20 piece of fish is reduced to a few crumbled bits. And as much as I WANT to make my own sushi, I’m not there yet. I either eat out or get it at Dillons (hey, their little rolls are perfect, and it’s one of the only places you can get brown rice). And ahi tuna, although my favorite, is out since my grill’s on the fritz. And I’ll be honest, I like ahi tuna better than almost any meat out there. Yes, steak included. A simple marinade, grilled about 45 seconds to a minute on each side. Perfection.

So, if you’ve been following along, this leaves me with tilapia as far as what I keep on-hand at home. I’ve been experimenting with marinades and other ways to keep it interesting. And while I was terrified my house would smell like Lent gone bad, I actually didn’t have a fishy smell post-cook. Win!

Here fishy, fishy, fishy.

I’m obsessed with my iPad cooking apps. Easy to access, so many ideas, so overwhelming. All I want to do is cook. But my kitchen’s in disarray because I’m allegedly moving. Yes, allegedly. All I know is half my house is packed, including boxes on my kitchen counters, and the closing date keeps moving back. I assume it’s a joke, but I refuse to give up. I’m digressing.

Anyway, I searched for tilapia on my allrecipes.com app, and came up with this recipe. While I don’t have a specific beef with mayonnaise beyond any other food, I try to keep it out of my life because I feel like it’s one of those un-foods. An un-food is something that’s really not a food. Velveeta and canned cheese are on the same list. As is margarine. And I’m sure lots of other things. So instead of mayo I figured I’d give Greek yogurt a shot as a substitute. The recipe called for two pounds of tilapia, and I was going to make one piece, which I think is about 4 ounces. No way was I doing that math with spices. So I took out all of the ingredients suggested, and started dumping.

I gotta say, perfection! And since it’s a parmesan base, how could it go wrong, right?

The package for my fish said to put the fish in cool water for I think 10 minutes, or until it’s thawed. Then to cook it for about 14 minutes at something like 325 degrees. I can’t remember the specifics. Every fish is probably different, and listed on the package. Anyway, I cooked it almost all the way done (a minute short), then added the topping, and broiled it for a few minutes until it just started to brown.

I served it up with lots of veggies, and it was a pretty delicious, healthy meal. Win!

If you want to make something similar, my only suggestion is to keep the yogurt/cheese ratio about right, then start adding in seasonings in a similar ratio manner. The only thing to really worry about is salt, otherwise add as much as you like. I don’t think you can go wrong.

All the different spices I used. The only thing not shown is the Greek yogurt.

The final product served over brown rice, a salad with homemade vinegarette dressing, sweet potato fries (which will be a post all their own) and steamed broccoli with garlic salt, red pepper and parmesan cheese.